A group of over one hundred literary translators—including International Booker Prize winners Jennifer Croft, Daisy Rockwell, and Deborah Smith, as well as Susan Bernofsky and Antonia Lloyd-Jones—have signed on to a powerful statement of solidarity with the people of Gaza, calling for a ceasefire and identifying aspects of the special role translators play in moments of international conflict:

Article continues after advertisement

As literary translators, we are in contact with writers all over the world, working to bring their work across cultures and borders … Gaza’s airspace and sea border are both controlled by Israel. Yet writers from Gaza continue to reach out to tell the world what is happening to them. Sometimes they are killed just days or weeks after their words reach us.

Organized by translators Anna Gunin and Maya Chhabra (after Gunin’s initial attempt to encourage the U.K.-based Society of Authors to issue a statement was met with resistance), the statement calls to an end to the Israeli army’s bombing of Gaza and the violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, as well as “a just peace that ends the current domination of Palestinian life by the Israeli military occupation.”

If you’re a translator who would like to add your name to the statement, please email gazaopenlettertranslators@gmail.com.

 

Article continues after advertisement

Here is the statement in full:

 

We watch in horror as Israeli bombs fall on Gaza. The total number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza has now surpassed 10,000. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on November 6th that 4,008 of those deaths were children. Hospitals lack sufficient fuel for their lifesaving equipment, but Israel has banned the entry of fuel into Gaza. Israeli authorities order Gaza’s civilians to flee south, but the south is also being bombed and forced displacement does not guarantee their safety. Faced with this carnage, the undersigned literary translators feel morally compelled to oppose the devaluation of Palestinian civilian lives and to call for a ceasefire.

As literary translators, we are in contact with writers all over the world, working to bring their work across cultures and borders. Gaza has been cut off from the rest of the world by a constant blockade since 2007. The Palestinians who live there cannot leave without exit permits from Israel or Egypt. Gaza’s airspace and sea border are both controlled by Israel. Yet writers from Gaza continue to reach out to tell the world what is happening to them. Sometimes they are killed just days or weeks after their words reach us.

Revulsion at Hamas’s killing of over 1,400 Israelis, including around 1,100 civilians, cannot supersede international law. Even in times of great grief, the fundamental principle of civilian immunity must not be violated. Understanding the pain of Israelis as they fear for the lives of the hostages does not mean justifying the actions of the Israeli government. To make the protection of civilians by any side conditional on reciprocity will lead only to disaster. Just as Israeli civilians must be off-limits, so too must Palestinian civilians.

Article continues after advertisement

This urgency extends beyond Gaza. Since October 7th, Israeli forces have killed over a hundred Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, which is not controlled by Hamas. Soldiers abuse detainees; extremist settlers attack Palestinian civilians with impunity.  

An equitable resolution that ends the occupation and enables Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace and freedom seems as far away as ever. The current Israeli government, which includes a convicted far right extremist as Minister of National Security, has consistently doubled down on supporting illegal settlements in the West Bank, rather than taking steps to negotiate with Palestinian partners and achieve a just peace. High-level politicians make inflammatory speeches referring to “human animals” and “Amalek.” We focus on the actions of the Israeli government as we believe they have the most power in this situation. And amid such actions from those in power, it is hard not to be discouraged.

We, the undersigned translators, refuse to despair. We believe that peace is possible and that it starts with choosing to protect civilians now. We insist that Palestinian lives have equal value and that civilians must be protected at all times. 

We invite our fellow translators, as well as professional groups in our field, to join us in calling for:

The cessation of Israeli bombardment and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to protect civilian life, as well as lifting the blockade so humanitarian aid can be delivered safely.

Article continues after advertisement

The immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas. 

A just peace that ends the current domination of Palestinian life by the Israeli military occupation, and provides for the freedom, security, and civil and political rights of both peoples.

 

Signed,

Hosam Aboul-Ela

Article continues after advertisement

Kareem James Abu-Zeid

Kanika Agrawal

Sascha Akhtar

Nguyễn An Lý

Anonymous

Jocelyne Allen

Alexis Almeida

Kalau Almony

Stine An

Tomoko Aoyama

Sarah Ardizzone

Emily Balistrieri

Polly Barton

Kimrey Anna Batts

Brian Bergstrom

Susan Bernofsky

Rahul Bery

Tarun Bhartiya

Jenny Bhatt

Clarissa Botsford

Conor Bracken

Thomas Bunstead

Peter Bush

Charlène Busalli

Wendy Call

Hope Campbell Gustafson

Juliet Winters Carpenter

Bonnie Chau

Maya Chhabra

David Colmer

Charlotte Collins

David Constantine

Helen Constantine

Richard Coombes

Jennifer Croft

Sinéad Crowe

Howard Curtis

Marissa Davis

Sayari Debnath

Stephen Dodd

Ian Dreiblatt

Ilze Duarte

Patricia Dubrava

Miled Faiza

Pauline Fan

Musharraf Ali Farooqi

Meggie Felisberto

Will Firth

Alex Fleming

Morgan Giles

Claudia Gómes Oliveira

Katherine Gregor

Jason Grunebaum

Gioia Guerzoni

Anna Gunin

Kat Hall

Vighnesh Hampapura

Jein Han

Nicky Harman

Rosalind Harvey

Louise Heal Kawai

Linda Hess

Grace Holleran

Mette Holm

Amanda Hopkinson

Anton Hur

Sawad Hussain

Anne Marie Jackson

Nathan Jeffers

Jayasree Kalathil

Aruni Kashyap

Madhu Kaza

Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp

Jenny Jisun Kim

David Larsen

Fathima E.V.

Janet Elizabeth Lee

Sophia Rebecca Lewis

Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Archana Madhavan

Ruth Martin

Janet McAdams

Paul McCarthy

David McKay

Florencia Milito

Paige Morris

Ainsley Morse

Ottilie Mulzet

Rob Myatt

Shabnam Nadiya

Nashwa Nasreldin

Takami Nieda

Greg Nissan

Lulu Norman

Lucy North

Kathleen Maris Paltrineri

paparouna

Zoë Perry

Francoise Pinteaux-Jones

Namrata Poddar

Y. Radhika

Mahmud Rahman

V. Ramaswamy

Oliver Ready

Gabi Reigh

Clare Richards

Louise Rogers Lalaurie

Larry Rosenwald

Julia Sanches

Ros Schwartz

Timon Screech

Trista Selous

Vaibhav Sharma

Moazzam Sheikh

Arunava Sinha

Nichola Smalley

Deborah Smith

D.P. Snyder

Isabel Stainsby

Corine Tachtiris

Ginny Tapley Takemori

Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún

Elton Uliana

Daisy Rockwell

Rachel Valinsky

Katherine Van de Vate

Christina Vega-Westhoff

Alison Watts

Shaun Whiteside

Emily Yae Won

Jonathan Wright

Frank Wynne

Roy Youdale

Jeffrey Zuckerman

Haricha Abdaal

Eman Abukhadra

Nema Alaraby

Amna Ali

Esther Allen

Zeynep Alpar

Alison Anderson

Jeffrey Angles

James Appleby

Phyllis Aronoff

Diana Arterian

Katie Assef

Jessie Aufiery

Shushan Avagyan

Isaac Bandry

Nicolaas P. Barr

Kavita Bhanot

Lauren Bonet Spencer

Sophie Bowman

Jen Calleja

Meral Camci

Sana R. Chaudhry

Bora Chung

Ruth Clarke

Elizabeth Clark Wessel

Julia Conrad

Charlotte Coombe

Sue Copeland

Kymm Coveney

Alton Melvar M Dapanas

Paula Darwish

Vazrik Der-Sahakian

Whitney DeVos

Rebecca DeWald

Ruth Diver

Ilze Duarte

Yana Ellis

Ahmet Ergenç

Maria Jacqueline Evans

Ibrahim Fawzy

Edward Fortes

Beth Fowler

Rufaidah Gamal

Clare Gaunt

Ruth Goring

Rebecca Ruth Gould

Katharine Halls

Guka Han

Jack Hargreaves

Rebecca Heier

Kay Heikkinen

Aneesa Abbas Higgins

Will Howard

May Huang

Iquebal Hussain

Siren Idemen

Victoria Issa

Elisabeth Jacquette

Ellen Jones

Faith Jones

Jack Jung

AKaiser

Yui Kajita

Daniel Kennedy

Alice Kilgarriff

Adam Kuplowsky

Tehmina Khan

Jesse Kirkwood

Hiromitsu Koiso

Deniz Kureta

Tyler Langendorfer

Jonathan Larson

Luke Leafgren

Eunice Lee

Joheun Lee

Sandy Joosun Lee

Tahee Lee

Natasha Lehrer

Felipe Lindoso

Dana J. Lupo

Mattho Mandersloot

Sofia Mansoor

Rosie Marteau

Samuel Martin

Annie McDermott

Andrew McDougall

Deirdre McMahon

Victor Meadowcroft

Alice Menzies

Lily Meyer

Marinella Mezzanotte

Michelle Mirabella

Chittajit Mitra

Lucy Moffatt

Paola Molica

Melanie Moore

Anna Moschovakis

Robin Munby

Robin Myers

Iliyana Nedkova

Christina Ng

Nielsine Nielsen

Allana Noyes

Barbara Ofosu-Somuah

Carolina Orloff

Nancy Viviana Piñeiro

Leri Price

Jiang Pu

Pilar Ramírez Tello

Kalyan Raman

Rachel Rankin

Naima Rashid

Jamie Richards

Nancy Roberts

Jeremy Roe

Rashi Rohatgi

Jacob Rogers

Sung Ryu

Howard Scott

Ena Selimović

Haider Shahbaz

Laura Shanahan

Bela Shayevich

Daniella Shreir

Jennifer Shyue

Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

Jasdeep Singh

Lalita Sinha

Tara Skurtu

Marina Sofia

Soje

Liza St. James

Paul Starkey

Pablo Strauss

Femmy Syahrani

Wadana Sonalkar

Marianna Suleymanova

Aslı Takanay

Jenna Tang

Diana Thow

Shash Trevett

Tiffany Tsao

Lindsay Turner

Siân Valvis

Eugenia Vázquez Nacarino

Alex Valente

Maria Vassileva

Lara Vergnaud

Francisco Vilhena

Georgia Wall

Janet Whitchurch

Reuben Woolley

Laura Woolley-Núñez

Mirae Yang

Nariman Youssef

Catherine Xinxin Yu

Katja Zakrajšek

Kelly Zhang

Abeer Abdelwahed

Alireza Abiz

Leila Afshar

Aftab Ahmad

Ibrahim Badshah

Maliheh Baharloo

Victoria Caudle

Krzysztof Cieślik

Brent de Chene

Rachael Daum

Sherine Elbanhawy.

Adriana Díaz Enciso

Işık Ergüden

María Cristina Fernández Hall

Hassan Hegazy

Ann Gagliardi

Noelia González Barrancos

Hillary Gulley

Fatma Büşra Helvacıoğlu

Marjolijn de Jager

Kartikeya Jain

Lena Jonsson

Rafiq Kathwari

Dimiter Kenarov

Signe Lyng

Rifat Munim

Juliette Neil

Gitanjali Patel

Gabriel Rosenstock

Tobias Ryan

Laura Salas Rodríguez

Yasmine Seale

Yvette Siegert

Sebastian Smallshaw

Stuart Anthony Stilitz

Adam Talib

Ayça Türkoğlu

Kelsi Vanada

Matvei Yankelevich

Anam Zafar

Tahminwh Zardasht

Joyce Zonana

Eric M. B. Becker

Aybars Çağlayan

Allison M. Charette

Željko Cipriš

Anna Dzierzgowska

Amanie Fawzi Habashi

Katherine M. Hedeen

Iswarya V

Hanna Jankowska

Thomas J. Kitson

Rita Kohl

Larissa Kyzer

Helmy Matar

Kristen Renee Miller

Dima Nasser

Leanne Ogasawara

JD Pluecker

Alina Stefanescu

Anna Vilner

Lino Viola

Abanoub Wagdy

Natasha Wimmer

Deborah Woodard

Janani Ambikapathy

Alison Bailey

Nicole Ball

Marilyn Booth

Colin Bramwell

Soleil David

Kathleen Devereaux

Slava Faybysh

Esraa Hamdy

Eliza Vitri Handayani

Gudrun Ingratubun

Addie Leak

Erel Michaelis

Michael F. Moore

Erín Moure

Lisa Mullenneaux

Alda Rodrigues

Liz Rose

Marian Schwartz

Literary Hub

Literary Hub